(19)
(11) EP 0 354 601 B1

(12) EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION

(45) Mention of the grant of the patent:
06.07.1994 Bulletin 1994/27

(21) Application number: 89200737.8

(22) Date of filing: 22.03.1989
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC)5: G11B 7/24, G11B 7/00

(54)

Optical information recording medium providing reflected light at two different wavelengths, reproducing apparatus and method utilizing the same

Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen, das reflektiertes Licht von zwei verschiedenen Wellenlängen liefert und Wiedergabegerät und Methode zur Anwendung des Mediums

Support d'enregistrement optique fournissant la lumière réfléchie de deux longueurs d'ondes différentes, et appareil et méthode de reproduction pour l'utilisation de celui-ci


(84) Designated Contracting States:
FR NL

(30) Priority: 12.08.1988 JP 202542/88

(43) Date of publication of application:
14.02.1990 Bulletin 1990/07

(73) Proprietor: PIONEER ELECTRONIC CORPORATION
Meguro-ku Tokyo 153 (JP)

(72) Inventor:
  • Chikuma, Kiyofumi- Pioneer Electronic Corporation
    Tsurugashima-machi Iruma-gun Saitama (JP)

(74) Representative: Smulders, Theodorus A.H.J., Ir. et al
Vereenigde Octrooibureaux Nieuwe Parklaan 97
2587 BN 's-Gravenhage
2587 BN 's-Gravenhage (NL)


(56) References cited: : 
EP-A- 0 164 577
DE-A- 3 638 838
EP-A- 0 268 482
   
  • PATENT ABSTRACTS OF JAPAN vol. 12, no. 233 (P-724)(3080) 05 July 1988,& JP-A-63 25851
   
Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention).


Description

TECHNICAL FIELD



[0001] The present invention relates to an optical information recording medium.

[0002] The present invention also relates to a reproducing apparatus and method utilizing the same.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION



[0003] Optical information recording media, typically optical disks such as compact disks and video disks, are designed to record information utilizing the presence or absence of small pits (i.e., arranged in an array along circular or spiral "tracks"), wherein reproduction of recorded information is performed by detecting said presence or absence of small pits using an optical pickup and producing an electrical signal corresponding thereto. In some optical disks, recorded information is detected by directing a light beam along a track and monitoring a difference in the reflectance of a small region on account of pigments or phase change, and producing the electrical signal according to this difference. An information recording/reproducing system using the optical disks described above have such frequency characteristics that the amount of information (stored via the presence or absence of pits or regions) that can be detected is limited by a spatial frequency which is 2NA/λ at maximum, where NA is a numerical aperture of a lens in a reproducing optical system, and λ is a wavelength of information detecting light. Therefore, any efforts toward increasing a recording density of information on optical disks (e.g., by such techniques as mastering) have been limited by a fact that the only information that can be detected is that within the spatial frequency 2NA/λ.

[0004] EP-A-0,164,577 proposes an optical information recording medium comprising: transparent substrate means; and reflective layer means provided on a first principal surface of said substrate means; wherein between said substrate means and said reflective layer means a light-emitting material is formed in said substrate means in said first principal surface, said light-emitting material being sensitive to illuminating light incident thereupon, and in response thereto, for producing emitting light having a different wavelength than said illuminating light.

[0005] In the optical information recording medium as described in EP-A-0,164,577, the light-emitting material is formed as a continuous layer, and a pattern of recorded information is created by locally destroying the fluorescent character of the light-emitting material upon recording. Thus, the pattern of recorded information is formed by non-fluorescent spots in a generally fluorescent background. However, the optical information recording medium as described in EP-A-0,164,577 needs a rather complicated structure of photoconductive films (35₁, 35₂), electrodes (37₁, 37₂), switching alley (38₁-38₄), switching electrode alley (39₁-39₈), and a battery (310) in order to allow the fluorescent character of the light-emitting material to be destroyed during a recording operation.

Summary of the Invention



[0006] An object, therefore, of the present invention is to provide an optical information recording medium that allows information to be recorded and reproduced at an increased density. Another object of the present invention is to provide a reproducing apparatus and method utilizing such as a recording medium.

[0007] The first object of the present invention can be attained by an optical information recording medium as defined in appended claim 1 in which said light-emitting material is provided in an array of recesses filled with said light-emitting material, thereby forming an array of isolated island means representing the information recorded.

[0008] The second object of the present invention can be attained by a playing apparatus as defined in claim 14 and method as defined in claim 18 using the above-described optical information recording medium. In such an apparatus and method, said recording medium is illuminated with a small spot of scanning light directed to scan the recorded information surface, and reflected light from the recording medium is separated into first reflected light corresponding to reflected scanning light, and second reflected light corresponding to reflected or emitted light from the light-emitting material. A focus error signal is generated on a basis of a reception output of the first reflected light, while recorded information and a tracking error signal are read and generated on a basis of a reception output of the second reflected light.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS



[0009] 

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an optical information recording medium according to an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of a second aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a concept of the frequency characteristics of a recording/reproducing system using the recording medium of the present invention.


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS



[0010] Embodiments of the present invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0011] FIG. 1 is a cross section of an optical information recording medium according to an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention. The optical information recording medium 10 has a transparent substrate 11 that is made of a resin such an acrylic or polycarbonate resin, and which has rows of small recesses 12 formed in an array in a spiral or concentric pattern in one principal surface thereof. The recesses 12 in the substrate 11 are individually filled with a light-emitting filler material to provide islands of light-emitting material or region 13. The filler material is sensitive to illuminating light incident on the other principal surface of the substrate 11 and, responsive thereto, emits light having a different wavelength than the illuminating light. Suitable light-emitting materials are photoluminescent materials, fluoresent dyes, phosphors, etc. An outermost side of the light-emitting region 13 is coated with a reflective layer 14, which reflects both the illuminating light coming from the other principal surface of the substrate and the light emitted from the light-emitting region 13.

[0012] The substrate 11 of the recording medium 10 having the structure described above may easily be replicated from a stamper which is prepared in any known "mastering" step of the conventional process of optical disk fabrication. Therefore, information is recorded in accordance with an array of light-emitting islands of light-emitting material 13 formed within the recesses 12.

[0013] The construction of a playing apparatus utilizing the above-disclosed recording medium 10 is described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 2 illustrating an embodiment of this apparatus. Incoherent diffusive light issuing from a light source 21 such as a semiconductor laser is converted to parallel rays by passage through a collimator lens 22. After being reflected from a beam splitter 23, the parallel rays of light are converged with an objective lens 24 to form a small spot of scanning light which illuminates or is directed to scan the information recording surface of the recording medium 10. Upon illumination, the light-emitting material, such as a photoluminescent material in the islands of light-emitting region 13 of the recording medium 10, will emit light having a different wavelength than the illumination or scanning light. The emitted light is reflected from the reflective layer 14, which also reflects the illumination light incident on areas where no light-emitting region is formed.

[0014] The reflected light from the recording medium 10 passes successively through the objective lens 24 and the beam splitter 23 and is converged by a condenser lens 25 for launching into a dichroic mirror 26. The dichroic mirror 26 is a kind of interference filter having wavelength characteristics which transmit a first reflected light corresponding to a reflected said scanning light which was originally emitted from the light source 21, while reflecting a second reflected light corresponding to a reflected or emitted light from the light-emitting material or region 13, thereby separating an overall reflected light into two kinds of reflected light having different wavelengths.

[0015] The light passing through the dichroic mirror 26 is given astigmatism and converted to an electrical signal by a "four-division" or four-quadrant photodetector 27. The light reflected from the dichroic mirror 26 passes through a pinhole 28 and is converted to an electrical signal by a photodetector 29.

[0016] From the four outputs of the four-division photodector 27, a focus error signal can be generated by a well-known "astigmatism method" which determines a difference between the two output sums of diagonal elements. By driving the objective lens 24 in an optical axial direction on a basis of the generated focus error signal, the focal plane of the objective lens 24 can be brought into alignment with a recorded information surface of the recording medium 10.

[0017] In contrast, the output from the photodetector 29 is directly picked up as an information read signal. At the same time, a tracking error signal is generated from said output from the photodetector 29 by a well known "wobbling method" which determines a differential output from the photodetector 29 for two phases (90° and 270°) by swinging a small spot of light slightly from right to left and vice versa. This tracking error signal is used to control a position of a small spot of light in a direction perpendicular to the row of islands of light-emitting material 13, thereby allowing the small spot of illumination or scanning light to be always maintained on a row of islands of light-emitting material 13.

[0018] The frequency characteristics of a recording/reproducing system utilizing the optical information recording medium 10 of the present invention are described below the reference to FIG. 3 illustrating the operating theory of the system.

[0019] Light issuing from a light source a₁ passes through a lens a₂ to be converged at a small light-emitting region a₆ on an information recording surface. If the intensity I of the spot of converged rays from the light source is written as Io(u,v), this intensity can be expressed by:





where λ is a wavelength of outgoing light, NA is a numerical aperture of lens a₂, f₁ (x,y) is a pupil function of lens a₂, and Ω is the pupil plane. For sake of simplicity, assume here that the recording medium is so constructed as to cause cyclic changes in an intensity of light emission. In other words, assume that when using Io(u,v) (which is the intensity of the spot produced by the light from the light source), the intensity IR(u,v) of light emission from a given area a₆(u,v) on the recording medium is expressed by:


where A and B are constants of reflection intensity, p is a period of the cyclic change in emission intensity, s is a speed at which the spot of scanning light moves on the recording medium, and t is the time. When the spot of light radiated from the light-emitting area a₆ (u,v) is projected onto a given surface a₄(u′, v′), the resulting image will have an intensity which can be expressed by:


Where NA₁ is a numerical aperture of lens a₃, λ₁ is a wavelength of emitted light, and f₂ (x,y) is a pupil function of lens a₃. The output I of a photodetector a₅ can be expressed by:





where δ is Dirac's Θ function. In calculating I, one will be able to see that a frequency band of an output signal from photodetector a₅ is limited by a numerical aperture of lens a₃. Computing the specific circumstances of this limitation shows that a temporal signal with a frequency of s/p is obtained when:


   Therefore, information that can be read with the recording medium of the present invention should have a spatial frequency of (2nA/λ) + (2NA₁λ₁). Since this value is higher than that of the spatial frequency (2NA/λ) limitation attributable to the inferior system described in the Background section, a conclusion is reached that the system of the present invention allows more information to be written in and read out of a given area of a recording medium.

[0020] It is to be noted that the concept of the present invention is applicable not only to optical disks such as compact disks and video disks but also to other recording media such as optical cards.

[0021] As should now be apparent from the foregoing discussions, the optical information recording medium of the present invention has islands of light-emitting material or region formed between a transparent substrate, and a reflective layer disposed on one principal surface thereof. The islands of light-emitting material are sensitive to illuminating light incident upon the other principal surface of said substrate, and responsive thereto, emits light having a different wavelength than said illuminating light. This medium is so adapted to record information in accordance with an array of said islands of light-emitting material. Because of this arrangement, a cutoff value of spatial frequency that limits information detection is doubled as compared to a described inferior system, thereby allowing information to be recorded and reproduced at an increased density.

[0022] The apparatus of the present invention for reproducing with this recording medium is designed such that it illuminates the medium with a small spot of scanning light that scans its recorded information surface, and separates an overall reflected light from the recording medium into two types of reflected light having different wavelengths. A focus error signal can be generated on the basis of a first kind of reflected light, whereas a second kind of reflected light is used as a basis for reading the recorded information and generating a tracking error signal. This design has the advantage of simplifying a composition of the optical system for use in a reproducing apparatus.


Claims

1. An optical information recording medium (10) comprising:
   transparent substrate means (11); and
   reflective layer means (14) provided on a first principal surface of said substrate means (11);
   wherein between said substrate means (11) and said reflective layer means (14) a light-emitting material is formed in said substrate means (11) in said first principal surface, said light-emitting material being sensitive to illuminating light incident thereupon, and in response thereto, for producing emitting light having a different wavelength than said illuminating light;
characterized in that said light-emitting material is provided in an array of recesses (12) filled with said light-emitting material, thereby forming an array of isolated island means (13) representing the information recorded.
 
2. An optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said island means (13) being sensitive to illuminating light incident upon a second principal surface of said substrate means.
 
3. An optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said light-emitting material is a photoluminescent material.
 
4. An optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said light-emitting material is a fluorescent dye.
 
5. An optical information recording medium according to claim 1, wherein said light-emitting material is a phosphor.
 
6. An optical information recording medium according to claim 3, wherein said transparent substrate means is made of a resin.
 
7. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said transparent substrate means (11) is more specifically an acrylic resin.
 
8. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said transparent substrate means (11) is more specifically a polycarbonate resin.
 
9. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said recording medium (10) corresponds to a compact disk.
 
10. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said recording medium (10) corresponds to a video disk.
 
11. An optical information recording medium according to claim 6, wherein said recording medium (10) corresponds to an optical card.
 
12. An optical information recording medium according to Claim 9, wherein said island means (13) of light-emitting material are arrayed in a spiral or concentric form.
 
13. An optical information recording medium according to Claim 10, wherein said island means (13) of light-emitting material are arrayed in a spiral or concentric form.
 
14. An apparatus for reproducing an optical information recording medium (10) which comprises light-emitting material which is sensitive to illuminating light incident thereupon, and in response thereto, for producing emitting light having a different wavelength than said illuminating light; said apparatus comprising:
   illuminating optical system means (21, 22, 23, 24) for producing a small spot of scanning light for scanning said recording medium (10);
   separating optical system means (26) for separating an overall reflected light from said recording medium (10) according to the wavelength thereof; and
   light-receiving means;
   said reproducing apparatus reading recorded information and generating a focus error signal and a tracking error signal on a basis of an output of said light-receiving means;
characterized in that:
   said apparatus is adapted for reproducing an optical information recording medium (10) in which said light-emitting material is provided in an array of recesses (12) filled with said light-emitting material, thereby forming an array of isolated island means (13) representing the information recorded;
   said separating optical system means (26) is adapted for separating the overall reflected light from said recording medium (10) into first reflected light corresponding to reflected said scanning light, and second reflected light corresponding to said emitting light from said light-emitting material;
   said light-receiving means comprises first light-receiving means (27) for receiving said first reflected light, and second light-receiving means (29) for receiving said second reflected light; and
   said reproducing apparatus generates a focus error signal on a basis of an output of said first light-receiving means (27), and reading recorded information on a basis of an output of said second light-receiving means (29) and generating a tracking error signal in response thereto.
 
15. A reproducing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said optical information recording medium (10) is set forth in claim 1.
 
16. A reproducing apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said optical information recording medium (10) is set forth in claim 6.
 
17. A reproducing apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein said separating optical system means (26) is an optical beam splitter means having separator means directing a passage of said first reflected light to said first light-receiving means (27), and directing a passage of said second reflected light to said second light-receiving means (29).
 
18. A method of providing increased recorded information density on an optical recording medium (10), said method comprising the steps of:
   providing transparent substrate means (11);
   providing reflective layer means (14) on a first principal surface of said substrate means (11);
   providing a light-emitting material between said substrate means (11) and said reflective layer means (14), said light-emitting material being sensitive to illuminating light incident thereupon, and in response thereto, for producing emitting light having a different wavelength than said illuminating light;
   producing a small spot of scanning light for scanning said light-emitting material;
   separating an overall reflected light from said recording medium (10) according to the wavelength thereof; and
   reading recorded information and generating a focus error signal and a tracking error signal on a basis of an output of light-receiving means;
characterized in that said light-emitting material is provided in an array of recesses (12) filled with said light-emitting material, thereby forming an array of isolated island means (13) representing the information recorded;
   said small spot of scanning light is produced for scanning said island means (13) of said recording medium (10);
   an overall reflected light from said recording medium (10) is separated into first reflected light corresponding to a reflected said scanning light, and second reflected light corresponding to said emitting light from said light-emitting material; and
   a focus error signal is generated on a basis of said first reflected light, and recorded information is read on a basis of said second reflected light and a tracking error signal is generated in response thereto.
 


Ansprüche

1. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen (10), versehen mit:
   einem transparenten Substrat (11); und
   einer reflektierenden Schicht (14), die auf einer ersten Hauptfläche des Substrats (11) angeordnet ist;
   wobei zwischen dem Substrat (11) und der reflektierenden Schicht (14) ein lichtaussendendes Material in der ersten Hauptfläche des Substrats (11) gebildet ist, welches lichtaussendende Material für ein darauf fallendes beleuchtendes Licht empfindlich ist und als Reaktion darauf ausstrahlendes Licht erzeugt, dessen Wellenlänge von der des beleuchtenden Lichtes verschieden ist;
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß das lichtaussendende Material in einer Reihe von mit dem lichtaussendenden Material gefüllten Aussparungen (12) angeordnet ist, wobei eine Reihe von die aufgezeichneten Informationen darstellenden isolierten Inseln (13) gebildet wird.
 
2. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 1, wobei die Inseln (13) für ein auf eine zweite Hauptfläche des Substrats fallendes beleuchtendes Licht empfindlich sind.
 
3. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 1, wobei das lichtaussendende Material ein photolumineszierendes Material ist.
 
4. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 1, wobei das lichtaussendende Material ein fluoreszierender Farbstoff ist.
 
5. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 1, wobei das lichtaussendende Material ein Phosphor ist.
 
6. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 3, wobei das transparente Substrat aus einem Harz besteht.
 
7. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 6, wobei das transparente Substrat (11) insbesondere ein Acrylharz ist.
 
8. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 6, wobei das transparente Substrat (11) insbesondere ein Polycarbonatharz ist.
 
9. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 6, wobei das Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) einer Compact Disc entspricht.
 
10. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 6, wobei das Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) einer Video Disc entspricht.
 
11. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 6, wobei das Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) einer Optical Card entspricht.
 
12. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 9, wobei die Inseln (13) aus lichtaussendendem Material in spiraliger oder konzentrischer Form angeordnet sind.
 
13. Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen nach Anspruch 10, wobei die Inseln (13) aus lichtaussendendem Material in spiraliger oder konzentrischer Form angeordnet sind.
 
14. Gerät zur Wiedergabe eines Aufzeichnungsmediums (10) für optische Informationen, versehen mit einem lichtaussendenden Material, das für ein darauf fallendes beleuchtendes Licht empfindlich ist und als Reaktion darauf ausstrahlendes Licht erzeugt, dessen Wellenlänge von der des beleuchtenden Lichtes verschieden ist; welches Gerät versehen ist mit:
   einem beleuchtenden optischen System (21, 22, 23, 24) zur Erzeugung eines kleinen Fleckes eines Abtastlichtes zur Abtastung des Aufzeichnungsmediums (10);
   einem trennenden optischen System (26) zur Trennung eines gesamten reflektierten Lichtes vom Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) entsprechend seiner Wellenlänge; und
   lichtempfangenden Elementen;
   wobei das Wiedergabegerät aufgezeichnete Informationen liest sowie ein Fokusfehlersignal und ein Spurfehlersignal auf Basis eines Outputs der lichtempfangenden Elemente erzeugt; dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß
   das Gerät geeignet ist, ein Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen (10) wiederzugeben, in dem das lichtaussendende Material in einer Reihe von mit dem lichtaussendenden Material gefüllten Aussparungen (12) angeordnet ist, wobei eine Reihe von die aufgezeichneten Informationen darstellenden isolierten Inseln (13) gebildet wird;
   das trennende optische System (26) geeignet ist, das gesamte reflektierte Licht vom Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) in ein erstes reflektiertes Licht, das dem reflektierten Abtastlicht entspricht, und ein zweites reflektiertes Licht, das dem ausstrahlenden Licht vom lichtaussendenden Material entspricht, zu trennen;
   wobei die lichtempfangenden Elemente mit einem ersten lichtempfangenden Element (27) zum Empfangen des ersten reflektierten Lichtes und einem zweiten lichtempfangenden Element (29) zum Empfangen des zweiten reflektierten Lichtes versehen sind; und
   wobei das Wiedergabegerät ein Fokusfehlersignal auf Basis eines Outputs des ersten lichtempfangenden Elements (27) erzeugt sowie aufgezeichnete Informationen auf Basis eines Outputs des zweiten lichtempfangenden Elements (29) liest und als Reaktion darauf ein Spurfehlersignal erzeugt.
 
15. Wiedergabegerät nach Anspruch 14, wobei das Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen (10) im Anspruch 1 erwähnt ist.
 
16. Wiedergabegerät nach Anspruch 14, wobei das Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen (10) im Anspruch 6 erwähnt ist.
 
17. Wiedergabegerät nach Anspruch 14, wobei das trennende optische System (26) ein optische Strahlen zerlegendes Element ist, versehen mit Trennelementen, die den Durchgang des ersten reflektierten Lichtes zum ersten lichtempfangenden Element (27) und den Durchgang des zweiten reflektierten Lichtes zum zweiten lichtempfangenden Element (29) steuern.
 
18. Verfahren zur Erzeugung einer erhöhten Dichte der aufgezeichneten Informationen auf einem Aufzeichnungsmedium für optische Informationen (10), wobei man:
   ein transparentes Substrat (11) anordnet;
   eine reflektierende Schicht (14) auf einer ersten Hauptfläche des Substrats (11) anordnet;
   ein lichtaussendendes Material zwischen dem Substrat (11) und der reflektierten Schicht (14) anordnet, welches lichtaussendende Material für ein darauf fallendes beleuchtendes Licht empfindlich ist und als Reaktion darauf ausstrahlendes Licht erzeugt, dessen Wellenlänge von der des beleuchtenden Lichtes verschieden ist;
   einen kleinen Fleck eines Abtastlichtes zur Abtastung des lichtaussendenden Materials erzeugt;
   ein gesamtes reflektiertes Licht vom Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) entsprechend seiner Wellenlänge trennt; und
   aufgezeichnete Informationenen liest sowie ein Fokusfehlersignal und ein Spurfehlersignal auf Basis eines Outputs der lichtempfangenden Elemente erzeugt;
dadurch gekennzeichnet, daß man das lichtaussendende Material in einer Reihe von mit dem lichtaussendenden Material gefüllten Aussparungen (12) anordnet, wobei man eine Reihe von die aufgezeichneten Informationen darstellenden isolierten Inseln (13) bildet;
   einen kleinen Fleck eines Abtastlichtes zur Abtastung der Inseln (13) des Aufzeichnungsmediums (10) erzeugt;
   ein gesamtes reflektiertes Licht vom Aufzeichnungsmedium (10) in erstes reflektiertes Licht, das dem reflektierten Abtastlicht entspricht, und ein zweites reflektiertes Licht, das dem ausstrahlenden Licht vom lichtaussendenden Material entspricht, trennt;
   ein Fokusfehlersignal auf Basis des ersten reflektierten Lichtes erzeugt sowie aufgezeichnete Informationen auf Basis des zweiten reflektierten Lichtes liest und als Reaktion darauf ein Spurfehlersignal erzeugt.
 


Revendications

1. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique (10) comprenant :
   un moyen formant substrat transparent (11) ; et
   un moyen formant couche réfléchissante (14) disposé sur la première face principale dudit moyen formant substrat (11) ;
   dans lequel, entre ledit moyen formant substrat (11) et ledit moyen formant couche réfléchissante (14), une matière émettrice de lumière est formée dans ledit moyen formant substrat (11) dans ladite première face principale, ladite matière émettrice de lumière étant sensible à une lumière d'éclairement incidente sur elle, pour produire, en réponse à cela, une lumière d'émission ayant une longueur d'onde différente de ladite lumière d'éclairement ;
   caractérisé en ce que ladite matière émettrice de lumière est disposée en une rangée d'évidements (12) remplis de ladite matière émettrice de lumière, en formant ainsi une rangée d'îlots isolés (13) représentant l'information enregistrée.
 
2. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel lesdits îlots (13) sont sensibles à la lumière d'éclairement incidente sur la seconde face principale dudit moyen formant substrat.
 
3. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel ladite matière émettrice de lumière est une matière photoluminescente.
 
4. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel ladite matière émettrice de lumière est un colorant fluorescent.
 
5. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 1, dans lequel ladite matière émettrice de lumière est un luminophore.
 
6. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 3, dans lequel ledit moyen formant substrat transparent est fait d'une résine.
 
7. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 6, dans lequel ledit moyen formant substrat transparent (11) est plus précisément une résine acrylique.
 
8. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 6, dans lequel ledit moyen formant substrat transparent (11) est plus précisément une résine polycarbonate.
 
9. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 6, dans lequel ledit support d'enregistrement (10) correspond à un disque audionumérique.
 
10. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 6, dans lequel ledit support d'enregistrement (10) correspond à un disque vidéo.
 
11. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 6, dans lequel ledit support d'enregistrement (10) correspond à une carte optique.
 
12. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 9, dans lequel lesdits îlots de matière émettrice de lumière (13) sont agencés en une forme en spirale ou concentrique.
 
13. Support d'enregistrement d'information optique selon la revendication 10, dans lequel lesdits îlots de matière émettrice de lumière (13) sont agencés en une forme en spirale ou concentrique.
 
14. Appareil pour reproduire un support d'enregistrement d'information optique (10) qui comprend une matière émettrice de lumière qui est sensible une lumière d'éclairement incidente sur celle-ci, pour produire, en réponse à cela, une lumière d'émission ayant une longueur d'onde différente de celle de ladite lumière d'éclairement ; ledit appareil comprenant :
   un moyen formant système optique d'éclairement (21, 22, 23, 24) pour produire une petite tache de lumière de balayage pour balayer ledit support d'enregistrement (10) ;
   un moyen formant système optique de séparation (26) pour séparer une lumière globale réfléchie par ledit support d'enregistrement (10) en fonction de sa longueur d'onde ; et
   un moyen récepteur de lumière ;
   ledit appareil de reproduction lisant l'information enregistrée et produisant un signal d'erreur de focalisation et un signal d'erreur de suivi de piste sur la base d'une sortie dudit moyen récepteur de lumière ;
   caractérisé en ce que :
   ledit appareil est conçu pour reproduire un support d'enregistrement d'information optique (10) dans lequel ladite matière émettrice de lumière est disposée en une rangée d'évidements (12) remplis de ladite matière émettrice de lumière, en formant ainsi une rangée d'îlots isolés (13) représentant l'information enregistrée ;
   ledit moyen formant système optique de séparation (26) est conçu pour séparer la lumière globale réfléchie par ledit support d'enregistrement (10) en une première lumière réfléchie correspondant à ladite lumière de balayage réfléchie, et une seconde lumière réfléchie correspondant à ladite lumière d'émission issue de ladite matière émettrice de lumière ;
   ledit moyen récepteur de lumière comprend un premier moyen récepteur de lumière (27) pour recevoir ladite première lumière réfléchie, et un second moyen récepteur de lumière (29) pour recevoir ladite seconde lumière réfléchie ; et,
   ledit appareil de reproduction produit un signal d'erreur de focalisation sur la base d'une sortie dudit premier moyen récepteur de lumière (27), lit l'information enregistrée sur la base d'une sortie dudit second moyen récepteur de lumière (29) et, en réponse à celle-ci, produit un signal d'erreur de suivi de piste.
 
15. Appareil de reproduction selon la revendication 14, dans lequel ledit support d'enregistrement d'information optique (10) est défini dans la revendication 1.
 
16. Appareil de reproduction selon la revendication 14, dans lequel ledit support d'enregistrement d'information optique (10) est défini dans la revendication 6.
 
17. Appareil de reproduction selon la revendication 14, dans lequel ledit moyen formant système optique de séparation (26) est un moyen diviseur de faisceau optique comportant un moyen séparateur dirigeant le trajet de ladite première lumière réfléchie vers ledit premier moyen récepteur de lumière (27) et dirigeant le trajet de ladite seconde lumière réfléchie vers ledit second moyen récepteur de lumière (29).
 
18. Procédé de réalisation d'une densité d'information enregistrée accrue sur un support d'enregistrement optique (10), ledit procédé comprenant les étapes :
   d'approvisionnement d'un moyen formant substrat transparent (11) ;
   de mise en place d'un moyen formant couche réfléchissante (14) sur la première face principale dudit moyen formant substrat (11) ;
   de mise en place d'une matière émettrice de lumière entre ledit moyen formant substrat (11) et ledit moyen formant couche réfléchissante (14), ladite matière émettrice de lumière étant sensible à l'éclairement par une lumière incidente sur celle-ci, et produisant, en réponse à cela, une lumière d'émission ayant une longueur d'onde différente de ladite lumière d'éclairement ;
   de production d'une petite tache de lumière de balayage pour balayer ladite matière émettrice de lumière ;
   de séparation d'une lumière réfléchie globale par ledit support d'enregistrement (10) en fonction de sa longueur d'onde ; et,
   de lecture de l'information enregistrée et de production d'un signal d'erreur de focalisation et d'un signal d'erreur de suivi de piste sur la base d'une sortie du moyen récepteur de lumière ;
   caractérisé en ce que ladite matière émettrice de lumière est disposée en une rangée d'évidements (12) remplis de ladite matière émettrice de lumière, en formant ainsi une rangée d'îlots isolés (13) représentant l'information enregistrée ;
   en ce que ladite petite tache de lumière de balayage est produite pour balayer lesdits îlots (13) dudit support d'enregistrement (10).
   en ce que la lumière globale réfléchie par ledit support d'enregistrement (10) est séparée en une première lumière réfléchie correspondant à ladite lumière de balayage réfléchie, et une seconde lumière réfléchie correspondant à ladite lumière d'émission issue de ladite matière émettrice de lumière ; et,
   en ce qu'un signal d'erreur de focalisation est produit sur la base de ladite première lumière réfléchie, et l'information enregistrée est lue sur la base de ladite seconde lumière réfléchie et un signal d'erreur de suivi de piste est produit en réponse à celle-ci.
 




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